Friday, April 16, 2010

Yes, I am sure that I am soon to be called, "The Hippie Lady," or hey that's my "Hippie Friend", but that's okay with me! We are picking up our grass-fed beef this afternoon from Greener Pastures Farms, and I can't wait until Ross can eat it! We have also started buying organic produce from Old Soul Organics ; which is a home delivery service for the Northwest Arkansas area. We go one step further by buying fresh, unpasteurized unhomogenized milk from Rusk Farms just past the Arkansas/Oklahoma border. Being that we are small business owners, I'm all about supporting local business owners; and with our special food needs those small business tend to work out the best for us.

I am in the process of transitioning our family's diet from conventional foods to organic foods; or all natural at the least. We are eating very little foods from a box anymore. No more heavily processed foods, no additives, no artificial colorings or flavorings, no more high fructose corn syrup...people, we are going back to the basics. With the exception of Smarties of coarse!! :) My new philosophy is if they didn't eat it 100 years ago, we probably shouldn't be eating it today. Why are we doing this? First and foremost, because we have been told that EE patients tend to have a better chance of passing a food trial with food that has not been sprayed repeatedly with pesticides and herbicides or processed so much that there is virtually no nutritional value left. Secondly, plain and simple. It has to be better for us. Lastly, I am actually saving money. That's right. Saving money. I'm not buying junk food or many prepacked items anymore; which has helped my budget tremendously. Now, I'm certainly NOT saying we don't indulge once in a while. If we want ice cream, we get ice cream. And chocolate....is a must! Of coarse there will still be those days we swing by a fast food restaurant for a quick meal, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. I see more "hippie moments" for me in the future...butter, yogurt and heavy whipping cream from my fresh milk, homemade organic breads...the possibilities are endless!

Recycling. Yep. We are doing that too. Now, I decided we should do our part and we are starting out very small and simple. I have 4 recycling bins labeled, "Cans, Plastic, Paper, and Cardboard." I figure doing our part should be fairly easy since Abigail and Ross both have a tone of cans that their formula comes in and just as many cardboard boxes that hold those formula cans. Plastic was a no brainer for us too because we go through bottled water like crazy...again for making formula. Paper is pretty much filled with the girls school work and doodle sheets from them coloring at home. There you have it.

Now for those of you who can't or don't want to go organic or green, that is perfectly fine with me. We still love you! This is just what is working best for our family at the moment.

Pure and undefiled religion before our God andFather is this:to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keeponeself unstained by the world. -James 1:27

Our Family

Ross, Lisa, Mary Grace, Hannah, Abigail, and Jonathan

Our Little Blessings

Mary Grace

Hannah

Abigail

Jonathan

Eosinophil

is the least common of the white blood cells. They make up 2-4% of the white blood count. Children with eosinophilic disease have increased numbers of eosinophils in their blood, GI tract, and/or organs. Produced in the bone marrow, eosinophils then migrate to tissues throughout the body. When a foreign substance (an allergen or parasite, for example) enters the body, lymphocytes and neutrophils (other types of white blood cells) release certain substances to attract eosinophils which release toxic substances killing the invader.